By default, File Explorer opens for quick access. If you want to file or organize things on Windows 11 quickly, you can pin it to Quick Access, so it’s always at hand when you need it again. Just right-click the folder and choose Pin to Quick Access. This risewindows article will show you how to customize Quick Access by pinning and unpin folders, hiding Quick Access, and permanently removing Quick Access from File Explorer.
The new Windows 11 comes with many new features and improvements that will work great for some and add some learning challenges for others. Some things and settings have changed so much that people need to learn new ways to work and manage Windows 11. If you’ve ever used Quick Access in Windows 10, there’s nothing new to learn other than a few changes to the File Explorer interface. Many things have changed in File Explorer that you may need to use.
How to Disable Quick Access on Windows 11?
You can disable the Quick access feature if you don’t want frequently accessed items to show up. You can customize and change Quick access settings so that it only shows you pinned files and folders and does not show recent and frequently accessed files and folders. For that, do the following steps:-
Step 1. First, open File Explorer by clicking its icon on the taskbar or using the keyboard shortcut
Step 2. Now, click the three dots on the menu and select
The above action will open up the “Folder Options” window.
Step 3. Then, navigate to the “General” tab under “Folder Options” and select “This PC” from the drop-down menu of “Open File Explorer to.”
Step 4. After that, in the Privacy section, uncheck the following checkboxes:-
- Show recently used files in Quick access.
- Show frequently used folders in Quick access.
Step 5. Once you clear the checkboxes, click the
Next time when you open “File Explorer,” you will see only default folders (including desktop, documents, downloads, music, pictures, and videos) and drives.
How to Pin or Unpin Items to Quick access?
If you prefer to use Quick access but want to customize it according to your needs, for example, you might want to show a particular folder on Quick access. It is possible to add or remove a folder in Quick access. For that, just right-click on a folder that you want to see quick access to and select
Here, the selected folder will immediately appear in Quick access. To unpin any folder from the Quick access, right on that and choose
How to Show only Pinned Folder in Quick access?
If you don’t want to disable Quick access completely, turn off recently accessed files and folders, enable Quick access and disable the recently used features. For that, do the following steps:-
Step 1. As usual, open File Explorer by clicking its icon on the taskbar or using the keyboard shortcut
Step 2. Now, click the three dots on the menu and select
The above action will open up the “Folder Options” window.
Step 3. Then, navigate to the “General” tab under “Folder Options” and select “Quick access” from the drop-down menu of “Open File Explorer to.”
Step 4. After that, in the Privacy section, uncheck the following checkboxes:-
- Show recently used files in Quick access.
- Show frequently used folders in Quick access.
Step 5. Once you clear the checkboxes, click the
Windows 11 will remember your decision and will not add recently & frequently used files & folders in Quick access.
That’s it for the article.
I hope this post will be informative & useful to you.
Good luck, guys.
Also, read How to Enable or Disable Editing Quick Settings on Windows 11?
